quote:Sumlin did walk into a great great situation, but that doesn't take away from the job he's done. He put together a very good staff (Kingsbury in particular) and they really played all year above what anybody could have imagined. Props to the Aggies, but frick em. I hope they fall back to earth next year.

Oh, I didn't mean to take away anything from what he's done. Not just anyone could take over at A&M, move to the SECw, and put together a 10-2 season. Heck of a job by him, and he's definitely deserving of SEC COTY honors (he or Muschamp, IMO).

Sumlin is no doubt a formidable coach, but I think you need to give Mike Sherman a ton of credit for building that roster. Think about this: Sumlin inherited the two best tackles in the SEC, a Heisman winning QB, and one of the best edge rushers in the SEC (I love M&M but Moore was probably the 2nd best DE behind Clowney this year in the SEC). Not many coaches are able to walk into that type of situation. Not to discredit him at all because it looks like Sumlin can recruit and build a roster too, but Sherman was a damn good evaluator of talent.

Sumlin made the best of a situation that was better than we most thought. It'll be interesting to see how he develops that talent. I don't think Kingsbury will be there much longer because he'll be highly sought after next year if A&M's offense is productive again next year.

Spread offenses have only been effective in the SEC with very special players running it - Cam and Tebow, and Manziel is entering that conversation. Even still, LSU did beat A&M this year. And I feel pretty damn confident in saying if LSU didn't wear out Bama the week before, A&M would have dropped that game too. That would have been 3 losses, all to the 3 best defenses in the SEC. But an impressive debut nonetheless.

I know everyone wants to sell A&M short, many said they couldn't compete in the SEC, not its only because of Manziel. Sumlin is a good coach, they have been recruiting well for a while. They are going to be a real pain.

quote:Spread offenses have only been effective in the SEC with very special players running it - Cam and Tebow, and Manziel is entering that conversation.

Chris Leak was a damn good college QB, ranked 2nd best in his class coming out of HS, and he was spelled by Tebow. What happened to UF after Tebow left??

Fact is A&M lost to 2/3 of the good SEC defenses they played, and was perfectly set up to beat the 3rd. Not convinced that they will be the Oregon of the SEC where it'll be plugging in one QB after the other with the same results. Agree to disagree but I attribute much of the early success to the player, not the system.

Spread offenses have only been effective in the SEC with very special players running it - Cam and Tebow, and Manziel is entering that conversation. Even still, LSU did beat A&M this year. And I feel pretty damn confident in saying if LSU didn't wear out Bama the week before, A&M would have dropped that game too. That would have been 3 losses, all to the 3 best defenses in the SEC. But an impressive debut nonetheless.

Nothing worse than the "we duh best at everything SEC! SEC! >derp<" guy.

They were supposed to replace him with Newton, but had to kick him off the team. Meyer left just 1 year after Tebow so we can't say that the offense wouldn't work with a different player. More and more HS's are running variants of the spread, so it's not that hard to find guys that can run it.

Yeah, when Manziel leaves A&M I'm sure there will be another one just like him waiting in the wings. And then when Sumlin calls the "QB left, dodge 3 tackles, throw a perfectly accurate pass downfield" play it'll be just as effective. Because Heisman winners grow on trees. If A&M recruits another "good" QB the SEC can breathe a sigh of relief, because Manziel isn't just "another good QB."

This is when I realize that I'm arguing with the same guy who thinks that a prospect choosing Miami over LSU right now is wash as far as his career prospects in football.

Seriously though, I gotta go study Not trying to be a dick. We'll have to agree to disagree and wait for it to unfold. If and when A&M shows they can win a championship you can throw it in my face From my POV though our defense had A&M pretty damn figured out after just 1 half of football.